Covaxin: Science, not pride will help India build trust in this vaccine

 

Like many things in India nowadays, the science of vaccine approval has also run into the politics of chest-thumping nationalism.

Alongside authorising Covishield, the Covid-19 protection developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India Ltd., the country’s drugs regulator on Sunday gave a go-ahead to an indigenous vaccine for which critical phase three trial data isn’t yet available.

The hasty nod for Bharat Biotech International Ltd.’s Covaxin, developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology, has raised eyebrows in the scientific and healthcare communities about a “public rollout of an untested product,” according to a national network of nongovernment organizations.

This is unfortunate. With more than 10 million coronavirus infections, India is the world’s second-worst-affected nation after the U.S. New Delhi’s strategy for vaccinating 1.3 billion people will matter greatly for bringing the global pandemic to a decisive end. The country’s virus-battered economy and its overstretched health systems are also yearning for a reprieve. It will be dangerous to allow political calculations to enter the equation and shake people’s confidence in what’s being offered to them — and on what basis. Read More